Harford MD – ‘Facebuker Rebbe’ Heading To Kiruv Convention Dies In Maryland Car Accident

Hartford, MD – A well known fixture in the kiruv community and a beloved Staten Island resident died this morning in a head on collision on icy roads in Maryland.

Dovid Winiarz was on his way to the Association for Jewish Outreach Professionals convention in Hunt Valley, Maryland when the fatal accident occurred early this morning near the intersection of Route 23 and High Point Road in Harford County, Maryland.

Chief Rudy Walter of the Jarrettsville Volunteer Fire Company in Harford County said that several others besides Winiarz were injured in the collision which was due to slick road conditions.

“We thought the precipitation would hold off until things got a little warmer but it came in sooner and everything iced up very quickly,” Walter told VIN News, who added that everyone involved in the accident was wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash.

According to Maryland State Police who responded to the accident at 8:10 AM, Winiarz was in the rear seat of a Honda CR-V traveling westbound on Route 23.

The operator of the CR-V lost control of his vehicle, crossed the center line and struck a Honda Pilot heading eastbound west of Grafton Shop Road. State Police have confirmed that neither drugs nor alcohol were a factor in the collision. Both other passengers of the CR-V as well as the occupants of the Pilot, a Maryland woman and her juvenile passenger, were transported to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries and are reported to be in stable condition.

According to Walters, everyone was wearing seatbelts when the collision occurred.

Route 23, also known as the East West Expressway was closed for several hours and the Maryland State Police are continuing to investigate the accident scene. The Harford Fire Blog’s Facebook page listed numerous accidents in the area this morning and warned of exceptionally slippery roads.

Winiarz and the other occupants of the CR-V were on their way to the AJOP convention.

The father of ten, Winiarz, also went by the moniker “Facebuker Rebbe” in his efforts to reach unaffiliated Jews. His final Facebook post shows a video taken last night at Avos U’Bonim with the words “Before I leave on my road trip I came to learn Torah with my son and his friend…” The founder of Survival Through Education Foundation, a means of reaching unaffiliated Jews, Winiarz also ran a food pantry in Staten Island and was closely involved in numerous communal organizations.

The levaya for Dovid Winiarz will take place Monday morning at 9:30 AM at the Young Israel of Staten Island, 835 Forest Hill Road., according to Yanky Meyer of Misaskim.

“We are very thankful to the coroner and the chevra kadisha in Baltimore for all their assistance in moving things along on a Sunday and a legal holiday and we thank them for their sensitivity,” said Meyer.

Rabbi Avi Shafran, director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America, shared his thoughts on Winiarz.

“Dovid was a one-man dynamo, an unstoppable force, when it came to reaching out to fellow Jews far from Yiddishkeit, and he was just as committed and energetic when it came to helping any Jew in need,” said Rabbi Shafran. “He was indefatigable, always full of joy and caring. It sounds trite, but I really can’t imagine a world without him, without his constant smile and contagiously happy demeanor, without all the wonderful things he did for Klal Yisrael on a daily basis.

“His eishes chayil is a partner in all he did, and his children and children-in-law all realized always what a gift they had in Dovid. May they all have the strength and fortitude to carry on his life through their own good works, and may they, and all who knew and loved Dovid, somehow achieve a nechama.

“Before I heard the terrible news, I noticed how bleak the day was, bleaker, darker, somehow, than other cold, rainy days. It just seemed so… sad a day. Now I feel I know why.”

Yossi Yurowitz of Our Place, who recalled Winiarz’s efforts for the community, described Winiarz’s death as “tragic.”

“Dovid organized several meetings with Our Place and askanim in his Staten Island office.” said Yurowitz.

Winiarz was an employee of Fidelity Payment Services for the past eight years.

“R’ Dovid Winiarz a’h was larger than life,” said Fidelity CEO Binyumin Weiser. “It was a zechus to have him as part of the Fidelity family. His smile, good cheer, ahavas yosroel, yiras shomayim and ahavas Torah were exemplary and contagious. He left an indelible mark on all who knew him. All who came in contact with him were invariably changed for the better. He will be sorely missed and we pray that Hashem heals the hearts of his beautiful family and all of klal yisroel.”

While journalists are supposed to remain impartial and report just the facts, I cannot do that in this case.

Dovid Winiarz was a close personal friend who literally lived to help others. Passionate about Torah, kiruv and sharing the beauty of Yiddishkeit with everyone, Dovid lived to make the world a better place and to make sure that the light of Torah shined a little brighter on a daily basis. A proud father and grandfather, his Facebook page was routinely filled with pictures of his children and grandchildren in the hopes that he could inspire others to understand the beauty of what it meant to raise a family in the ways of the Torah.

“If there’s one reason why G-d had Facebook be created, it was so that Rabbi Winiarz could reach out to and help thousands of people across the world,” wrote one poster on Facebook.

His cheerful emails were frequent guests in my inbox and not a Friday afternoon went by that he didn’t wish me, and I am sure, countless others, a good Shabbos. He asked me on more than one occasion to send him a picture of my Shabbos table to share on his Facebook wall to inspire the 12,243 people who liked his Facebook page in their own shemiras Shabbos.

Always with a perpetual smile, Dovid lived to spread simcha throughout the world. In one of his last emails to me, he shared his joy about having the opportunity to attend the AJOP convention. His warmth, his simcha and his genuine love for every Jew will be lasting legacies of a life cut all too short.

Just one week ago I was asked to write about Dovid’s efforts as the Facebuker Rebbe. I was elated to be able to write about Dovid. I just never thought this would be the article that I would be writing.

Yehei zichro baruch.